December 1938 cold wave

[Weather-history]

Christmas Day 1938 was a white Christmas across many parts of the UK, indeed apart from Christmas Day 1981, it was the deepest and most widespread Christmas snow of the 20th Century. The day itself was largely dry with just the odd snow flurry as most of the UK was under the influence of a ridge from Scandinavia, the run up to Christmas was cold and snowy especially in the south with an easterly to northeasterly wind bringing frequent snow showers especially to the east. Depths of snow was widely between 15 to 30cm and this drifted in the wind. Often forgotten is how mild December 1938 was until this easterly kicked in. The CET up to the 14th December was 7.2C

18th-25th December: -1.1

   

Reports from Europe

Mean pressure at Moscow for Dec '38 was 1036mb (+18mb above mean)

Northern Sweden: 1026mb (+16mb)

Oslo: 1021mb (+11mb)

Icelandic low: 994mb (-4mb below mean)

Siberia recorded temperatures of around -50C during the second week of December.

Lyons: -25C on the 22nd December

Milan: -10.6C on the 25th

Rivers, lakes, canals etc froze across most parts of Europe. Road, rail and air traffic were severely disrupted.

From Guardian of December 1938

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[A Face like Thunder]

According to Ian Currie, the snow lay 7 ins deep in Redhill by Boxing Day. Philip Eden reported that temperatures remained below freezing in parts of SE England for nine consecutive days, with 60cm of snow further north in Lincolnshire and West Durham. There was a minimum temperature of 20F in London on 20th Dec.

[Summer8906]

Wasn't January 1939 also synoptically notable? I seem to recall that it was very wet and slightly milder than normal in the south overall, BUT the track of the lows was such that two or three of them moved up the channel, leaving southern England in the 'sweet spot' of heavy precipitation but cold enough for snow.

What is surprising is that this combination (a wet and mildish month where lows mostly track over the southern UK, but the occasional low runs that little bit further south and gives a dumping to S England) doesn't occur more frequently. Lows tracking up the Channel seem to be notably rare, compared to not just further north, but also further south over France.

Edited December 13, 2021 by Summer8906

[Weather-history]

A pictorial history of the December 1938 cold wave